Enough! – sermon on August 20, 2017
Matthew 15: 10-28 Jesus called the crowd to him and said, “Listen and understand. What goes into someone’s mouth does not defile them, but what comes out of their mouth, that is what defiles them.” Then the disciples came to him and asked, “Do you know that the Pharisees were offended when they heard this?” He replied, “Every plant that my heavenly Father has not planted will be pulled up by the roots. Leave them; they are blind guides. If the blind lead the blind, both will fall into a pit.” Peter said, “Explain the parable to us.” “Are you still so dull?” Jesus asked them. “Don’t you see that whatever enters the mouth goes into the stomach and then out of the body? But the things that come out of a person’s mouth come from the heart, and these defile them. For out of the heart come evil thoughts – murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false testimony, slander. These are what defile a person; but eating with unwashed hands does not defile them.” Leaving that place, Jesus withdrew to the region of Tyre and Sidon. A Canaanite woman from that vicinity came to him, crying out, “Lord, Son of David, have mercy on me! My daughter is demon-possessed and suffering terribly.” Jesus did not answer a word. So his disciples came to him and urged him, “Send her away, for she keeps crying out after us.” He answered, “I was sent only to the lost sheep of Israel.” The woman came and knelt before him. “Lord, help me!” she said. He replied, “It is not right to take the children’s bread and toss it to the dogs.” “Yes it is, Lord,” she said. “Even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their master’s table.” Then Jesus said to her, “Woman, you have great faith! Your request is granted.” And her daughter was healed at that moment.
Sermon: Enough! by Rev. Doreen Oughton
It sounds to me as if Jesus had a stressful few days here, as have I. Anyone else? He has been teaching and healing, feeding the thousands, walking on water. It seems every time he tries to get away by himself for a little prayer time, he is pulled in by human need. He’s been sparring with the Pharisees and Scribes, who have come all the way from Jerusalem to see him, to challenge him about the unclean practices of Jesus’ disciples. After calling them hypocrites right to their faces, he gathers a crowd around and offers a different teaching than that of the religious leaders. He tells them whether they go through the proper rituals before putting something into their bodies is less important than the words that come out of their mouths, the words that express the beliefs in their hearts, the attitudes of their minds. The disciples (are they concerned?) let Jesus know that what he said was offensive to the Pharisees, and Jesus says that God will take care of it, uprooting anything not planted by Gods self. He says they are blind guides leading blind people, and all those blind ones will fall into a pit. He explains, with some exasperation, the meaning of his teaching to his disciples, and then they are off to Tyre and Sidon, Roman provinces on the Mediterranean Sea. I wonder if Jesus was thinking about his own words to the disciples, about the blind leading the blind right into a pit. I wonder if he was replaying his debates with the Pharisees, and thinking about how blind they are to God’s truth, thinking about them leading their people, his people, God’s people right into a pit. I wonder if he was growing in his resolve to bring the truth about the kindom of heaven, to help the blind to see the love and mercy that has always been there.
That’s the reason I have in my mind about why Jesus responded to the Canaanite woman the way that he did. She cries out for mercy, for healing for her daughter, and he says nothing. She won’t let him get away with silence, and goes and kneels before him, crying out again for help. He tells her he is there for the lost sheep of Israel, not for her and hers. He makes an ugly analogy. The Israelites are children of God, and she is no more than a dog – a scavenger, a nuisance. Not his best moment. He was just teaching about the importance of what comes out of one’s mouth, and now he is not only withholding, but insulting.
I wonder if the fully human part of Jesus has fallen into the trap of “not enough.” Does he worry there is a limit to his healing power, and if he uses it on this non-Jew there will be less for the lost sheep of Israel? Does he see his ministry as a zero-sum game? Does he think God’s guidance love and mercy can only go so far, only to the borders of Israel and not beyond? Even in his silence, you can sense Jesus’ ambivalence. He didn’t answer, but he noticed her, and when the disciples, irritated with her cries, suggest he send her away, he doesn’t do it. He answers them, as if needing to hear the words going through his mind – I was sent only for the lost sheep of Israel. But he hasn’t moved on, at least not fast enough that she can’t come and kneel before him. And when she says that any crumbs that may fall will be enough, he is moved. Matthew tells us the daughter is healed, but doesn’t say anything more about Jesus’ change of heart. Did this encounter open up his understanding of his call? Was it through this exchange that he realized there are lost sheep everywhere, and that God’s love knows no bounds, that there is enough, more than enough mercy and grace to reach every corner, every nation?
My heart was heavy this week reading so much about people who do not believe there is enough – the white supremacists, the KKK, the neo-Nazis who believe their future is threatened by people of different races and religions. I watched a video clip of a woman holding an infant, a toddler clinging to her leg, saying she thinks there needs to be a genocide wiping out all Jews so that her children can have a chance in this life. I think about the people who would deny same sex couples the right to marry, claiming that this somehow besmirches heterosexual marriages. Dignity, worth, opportunity, mercy, kindness – these are not zero-sum games. There is enough. There is enough power and freedom that people don’t need to fear losing theirs because others obtain it. In fact, some would argue that none are truly free unless we all are. Tyranny against some does not make anyone safer. When tyranny gets a foothold, freedom is at risk, not just freedom for some, but freedom itself.
Jesus let his heart be opened. He reached deep, past his fears about not enough, past his understanding about who his people were, who God’s people were, and healed people. Can we dig deep, reach past our fears about not enough, go past our ideas about who are people are, who God’s people are, and be part of the healing? I pray we can, for this week I have seen too much fear, too much anger and hatred and vitriol. The things coming from people’s mouths, FB pages and twitter accounts have too often been unclean, have shown fear and hatred within their hearts. And there has been some beautiful things as well, people making stands for equality and justice, people saying “enough!” to the hatred, “enough!” to intimidation, “enough!” to oppression. It could be that there is enough will in this country to keep moving forward in our understanding of who belongs, who are our kin, of what values this country stands for.
I pray that this will is channeled non-violently, that the humanity even of the neo-Nazis and white supremacists is recognized and honored. I pray that as Christians we realize that in the kindom of heaven there is room for all people, but not for all beliefs, not for all attitudes, not for all behaviors, not for all motives. Now God will be the judge about what beliefs, attitudes, etc., are consistent with the kindom of heaven, but we do have the example of Jesus who practices self-giving love, who encouraged giving not only the coat someone would take, but your shirt as well, who reached out to the outcasts and dined with sinners. In a certain sense, in the kindom there is room for only one of us. Until we can see and be part of that One, well, we are still on our journey. But it is a journey of hope, a journey of promise, a journey already made by Christ, who goes before us and will go with us if we but ask. May we find his presence with us on the journey to be enough. Amen.
